Evie
Shepard awakens to a nightmare. She's been buried alive and has no idea how or
why. As she struggles to remember what happened, she begins to notice changes
-- heightened senses, as well as increased speed, agility, and strength. And
her heart no longer beats. She soon makes a disturbing discovery: she wasn't
buried alive; she was murdered. Somehow, she has come back...and she wants
revenge.

About the Author:

J. E. Shannon
currently lives in Florida, but is a Missouri native. She spends most of her
time reading, writing, and taking care of her small child and two crazy dogs.
Visit her at www.jeshannonbooks.com.

My greatest fear is being buried alive. Actually, anything
dealing with dirt over my face irks me. My face twitches base on smell of dirt.
And dirt is itch enough when its on my skin.

When it comes to buried alive, I’m fear losing the ability
to breath and becoming stuck in the narrow and tight space that is underground.

In Awakenings by
J.E. Simmon, the protagonist Evie finds herself buried. But she neither is
alive nor remains trapped. She is, in frank, a dead being bent on vengeance.
Revenge for her killer and the awful people who enslaved her sister and many
more people. These people had separated her family and many more families. Evie’s
realistic struggle she had against her new supernatural urges was cleverly
portrayed.

The dark subject matter explores a dangerous area of human
nature filled with frightening descriptions. I enjoyed this story that
highlights dangers of the world around us, but also the strength of good
people, dead or alive.

This story has humor and good characters. It leans away from
absolute happiness. Hope remains while Evie and her companions go through a
story of great sorrow mixed with heroic action. The back-stories to ruthless Aime
and determined Ethan were wonderful surprises that helped me completely care
for them as I did for Evie.

All in all, I found Awakenings
well worth reading.

Excerpt:

Lightning strikes the
ground, leaving behind a thick, black scorch mark. Within seconds, it strikes a
second time, pausing briefly before giving a third earth-shattering blow. I
don’t see the actual bolts — all I see is a flash of light, followed by my sister
and me running, out of breath and terrified. Another flash, and we are huddled
together in a rusted, abandoned car. Another burst of light, and the car door
screeches open and we are being ripped away from each other by unfamiliar
hands. It’s with that final memory that I open my eyes. As soon as I do,
something grainy flows into them, so I shut them again.

I can’t see, I can’t
hear; but I can feel that I’m lying on cold earth. The longer I’m awake, the
more I become aware of an unbelievable pressure on my chest. Slowly, I realize
that it’s not just my chest — my face and body also feel as if I’m being
crushed. Oily nausea roils through me, but I clench my teeth to stop myself
from panicking. Where am I? I try to move my hands and find they’re pinned to
my side. I try to open my eyes again and instantly get something in them. I
flex my fingers, and the grittiness that slips through them makes me aware of
the awful truth — I have been buried alive.

I let out a shriek, but have to close my
mouth as dirt begins to slip past my lips. Struggling frantically, I feel the
earth move under my hands. I realize I can’t be buried very deep, or the
pressure of the dirt would surely have suffocated me by now. I’m astounded it
hasn’t already, though I have no way of knowing how long I’ve been underground.
I force myself to be still, to stop and think about what I have to do. I need
to be very careful getting out, making sure not to cause a cave-in and possibly
crush myself. I need to remember to breathe shallowly or I will run out of oxy—
And that’s when I realize that I’m not breathing. Not at all.

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About Me

Hi, My name is Rachel and I am an avid book reader. I enjoy reading any genre. I mostly read Young Adult (YA) books, but I also enjoy Agatha Christie mysteries. My favorite genres include paranormal, mysteries, realistic fiction and historical fiction. I hope you enjoy reading my blog!